Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan vacated the CM House in Bhopal today morning and shifted to his official MLA residence with his family.

Mr Chouhan offered prayers at the temple inside the CM House located on the picturesque Shyamla Hills overlooking the beautiful Upper Lake. His wife Sadhna Singh Chouhan and son Kartikeya Singh were with him during the prayers.

Staff members of the CM House accorded an emotional farewell to Chouhan and his family.

“I am leaving with many memories and happiness that numerous decisions regarding development and public welfare works have been taken from this house in the past 18 years,” Mr Chouhan said on the occasion.

Kartikeya Singh drove the vehicle and Mr Chouhan sat beside him on the front passenger seat, as the family left from the CM House.

After that, Mr Chouhan and his family moved into Chouhan’s allotted MLA residence, B8, located in the 74 Bungalows locality at Link Road Number – 1 near New Market in the state capital.

Mr Chouhan asserted that his commitment to public service would continue uninterrupted from his new address too.

Mr Chouhan has combined two adjacent houses in the 74 Bungalows locality by dismantling the wall in between. The adjoining house belonged to late MP BJP President and Lok Sabha Member Nandkumar Singh Chauhan, who had succumbed to COVID-19 on 2 March 2021. Both the houses, now part of a single unit, have been totally renovated and given a new look.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been the longest serving BJP CM in India. He has also been the longest serving CM of Madhya Pradesh, being on the post from 29 November 2005 to 11 December 2023, with a gap of 15 months from December 2018 to March 2020, when the Congress had formed the government in MP with Kamal Nath as the CM.

In his almost 18-year-long rule in MP, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has had to resign twice from the Chief Minister’s post.

His first resignation was in November 2018, after the BJP conceded defeat in the assembly polls. However, Chouhan got the opportunity to become CM again for a record fourth time on 23 March 2020, a few days after Jyotiraditya Scindia along with 22 of his supporter MLAs and ministers quit the Congress and joined the BJP, leading to the resignation of Congress CM Kamal Nath on 20 March 2020 and the subsequent fall of the Congress state government.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan resigned the second time from the CM’s post on 11 December 2023, despite the BJP sweeping the MP State Assembly polls, because the saffron party denied Chouhan and selected Dr Mohan Yadav to become the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Dr Mohan Yadav took oath as the 19th CM of MP on 13 December.